A Thread of Hope

Introduction

A Thread of Hope

Welcome back everyone to Torah Today Ministries as we continue our series called The Hebrew Key. We call this series The Hebrew Key because we find that if we look at a passage — even a very familiar passage of Scripture — in the Hebrew, we often find something that unlocks that passage to bring out so much hidden meaning and application for our own lives.

So this week’s teaching is called “A Thread of Hope,” because it centers around the Hebrew word for hope, which is tikvah (תִּקְוָה).

Tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — Hope as Expectation

Tikvah (תִּקְוָה) is one of two or three words translated “hope,” but tikvah (תִּקְוָה) has more than just the feeling of “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow” or “I hope the Cleveland Browns win.” It’s something that’s more of an expectation — you’re really counting on it, because you have a promise upon which to base your expectation. And nobody really expects the Cleveland Browns to win. So this is not a desperate hope — this is a real expectation based on some promise that we can count on.

So let’s look at a few examples of where this word is used. It’s a very common word. In fact, there’s a Messianic congregation north of me in Cleveland called Tikvat Yisrael (תִּקְוַת יִשְׂרָאֵל) — “The Hope of Israel.”

Examples of Tikvah (תִּקְוָה) in Scripture

So here are a few passages:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — my hope — is from him. — Psalm 62:5

For you, O Lord, are my tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — my trust — Adonai (אֲדֹנָי), from my youth. — Psalm 71:5

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — more hope — for a fool than for him. — Proverbs 26:12

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares Adonai (אֲדֹנָי), “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a tikvah (תִּקְוָה)” — an expectation of something wonderful to come. — Jeremiah 29:11

Zechariah 9:12 — HaTikvah (הַתִּקְוָה): The Hope

But there’s only one passage that has the term hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) — “the hope” — and that is in Zechariah 9:12, the last place tikvah (תִּקְוָה) is found in the Hebrew scriptures:

Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) — the hope. This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you. — Zechariah 9:12

And I think it’s based upon this verse that uses hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) that the poem “HaTikvah” (הַתִּקְוָה) was written, which became the Israeli national anthem. It’s a beautiful, beautiful piece of music. And you can go on the internet and find many different arrangements and performances of the Israeli national anthem. And again, it’s called HaTikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) — “The Hope.”

Joshua 2:17–18, 21 — The First Occurrence: Thread, Not Hope

But the very first place this word is found — it’s quite unusual. The very first place this word is found, it’s found twice, and that is in the book of Joshua.

The background of the story is this: the Israeli army — the Israelites — are ready to cross the Jordan River, and they do so. And their first big battle is Jericho. You know the story. But they send two spies ahead of them, and they come to the house of Rahab (רָחָב) the harlot. And she hides them. She saves their lives. And when she releases them, she gives them instructions as to where to go so they’ll be safe. But she asks them to make her a promise. She says, “When you come — I’ve heard about your God. We’re all shaking in our boots. And I have faith in your God. So when you come back, would you spare me and my family?”

And this is what they say to her — Joshua 2, verses 17 and 18, and then we’ll skip on down to verse 21:

And the men said to her, “We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless when we come into the land you tie this cord of scarlet tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — scarlet thread — in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.” — Joshua 2:17–18

It’s the exact same word. It’s the word tikvah (תִּקְוָה). But the word also means “thread.” But it’s only translated “thread” here in the book of Joshua. Let’s go on:

Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet tikvah (תִּקְוָה) in the window. — Joshua 2:21

Hope Is a Thread — Based on a Promise

This is amazing — that the very first place the word for “hope” — tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — is used in Scripture, it’s used twice. And here it means not “hope” but “thread.” And yet this sets the tone for what real expectation, real hope in God, is.

Because here’s a woman. She’s heard of what this God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has done to Egypt, has done to the Amalekites, to Sihon and Og there in the wilderness. And she knows that this army is getting ready to invade her land. And she has faith in this God of these two spies.

And she asks a promise, and they make one to her. And they said, “Place this hope in your window — place this scarlet cord of tikvah (תִּקְוָה) in your window.” And they left.

So she gathers her household — her parents, her brothers, her sisters — she gathers them into her house, which was in the wall of the city. And she had expectation based upon a promise.

Just like we do. We have expectations based on a promise God has made to us in his word. We are believers. Our job is to believe. And we believe the words of a God who cannot lie.

1 Peter 1:3 — A Living Tikvah (תִּקְוָה)

And so I want to close with 1 Peter 1:3:

Praise be to God, Father of our Lord Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) the Messiah, who in keeping with his great mercy has caused us, through the resurrection of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) the Messiah from the dead, to be born again to a living hope. — 1 Peter 1:3

And then in the Hebrew translation of this verse, “hope” is translated, of course, tikvah (תִּקְוָה).

We have a living hope. And God has done more than just make a promise. He sent his Son, who died out of love for us and out of obedience to his Father. He rose again. And he’s made us a promise.

So let’s hold on to the scarlet cord of tikvah (תִּקְוָה), knowing that our Savior is coming. And though the world may go through great suffering, he will preserve us. He’ll hold on to us. And we have a great promise from a great God who cannot lie.

So I hope that this little insight into the word tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — the word “hope” — will give you encouragement. So God bless you, and we’ll see you next time on The Hebrew Key.

 

Teaching Material

Hebrew Word Studies

• Tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — “Hope, expectation; thread, cord”; the Hebrew key of this teaching. More than wishful thinking — tikvah (תִּקְוָה) is an expectation grounded in a promise you can count on. Remarkably, the very first occurrence in Scripture (Joshua 2:17–18, 21) translates not as “hope” but as “thread” — the scarlet cord that Rahab (רָחָב) tied in her window. This sets the tone: real hope is based on a promise, just as Rahab’s survival was based on the spies’ oath. The last occurrence in the Hebrew scriptures — Zechariah 9:12 — uses hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה), “the hope,” inspiring the Israeli national anthem. — Strong’s H8615
• HaTikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) — “The Hope”; the definite form, found only in Zechariah 9:12 — “Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope.” The basis for the poem that became Israel’s national anthem, a beautiful declaration of the Jewish people’s undying expectation of return and restoration. — Sefaria: Zechariah 9:12
• Rahab (רָחָב) — A Canaanite woman of Jericho who hid the Israelite spies and expressed faith in the God of Israel. She was told to tie a scarlet tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — a thread of hope — in her window. She gathered her family, held to the promise, and was spared. She later married into the tribe of Judah (יְהוּדָה) and appears in the genealogy of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) (Matthew 1:5). — Strong’s H7343
• Tikvat Yisrael (תִּקְוַת יִשְׂרָאֵל) — “The Hope of Israel”; a phrase used as the name of a Messianic congregation in Cleveland, reflecting the deep biblical expectation that God will fulfill his promises to his people.
• Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) — “Salvation”; through his resurrection from the dead, we are “born again to a living tikvah (תִּקְוָה)” (1 Peter 1:3). God sent his Son, who died and rose — more than a promise, a completed act upon which our hope rests. — Strong’s H3442
• Shalom (שָׁלוֹם) — “Peace, wholeness, completeness.” — Strong’s H7965

Scripture References

Open All Scripture in Bible Gateway

• Joshua 2:17–21 — The first occurrence of tikvah (תִּקְוָה) in Scripture — used twice, meaning “thread” not “hope”: “Tie this cord of scarlet tikvah (תִּקְוָה) in the window.” Rahab’s (רָחָב) expectation based on a promise.
• Psalm 62:5 — “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — my hope — is from him”
• Psalm 71:5 — “For you, O Lord, are my tikvah (תִּקְוָה) — my trust — Adonai (אֲדֹנָי), from my youth”
• Proverbs 26:12 — “There is more tikvah (תִּקְוָה) for a fool than for him” — a man wise in his own eyes has less hope than a fool
• Jeremiah 29:11 — “Plans to give you a future and a tikvah (תִּקְוָה)” — an expectation of something wonderful to come, based on God’s declared plans
• Zechariah 9:12 — “Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) — the hope” — the only passage using the definite form “the hope,” inspiring the Israeli national anthem
• 1 Peter 1:3 — “Born again to a living tikvah (תִּקְוָה) through the resurrection of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) the Messiah from the dead” — our hope is alive because our Savior is alive
• Joshua 2:1–14 — The full story of Rahab (רָחָב) hiding the spies: she heard what God did to Egypt, to the Amalekites, to Sihon and Og — and she believed
• Matthew 1:5 — Rahab (רָחָב) appears in the genealogy of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) — the woman who held the thread of hope married into the line of Messiah
• Hebrews 11:31 — “By faith Rahab (רָחָב) the prostitute did not perish” — she is honored in the hall of faith for her tikvah (תִּקְוָה), her expectation based on a promise

External References & Further Study

• Tikvah: Hope and Thread — Blue Letter Bible Lexicon — Full lexicon entry showing the dual meaning of tikvah (תִּקְוָה): “hope, expectation” and “cord, thread”
• Joshua 2: Rahab and the Spies — Sefaria — Hebrew and English text of the passage where tikvah (תִּקְוָה) first appears — twice — as the scarlet thread in Rahab’s window
• Zechariah 9:12: HaTikvah — Sefaria — The only verse using hatikvah (הַתִּקְוָה) — “the hope” — the inspiration for the Israeli national anthem
• HaTikvah: The Israeli National Anthem — My Jewish Learning — The history of the poem and anthem based on Zechariah 9:12, expressing the undying hope of the Jewish people
• Torah Today Ministries — Home of The Hebrew Key and other Torah-centered teachings